Taming The Bride (Brides of Mayfair 2) Read Online Free Page B

had changed forever. He, a grown man of thirty, was still haunted by an eight-year-old’s broken heart. How pathetic.
    He led Great-Aunt Withypoll outside into the back gardens of the townhouse. They walked slowly across the lush grass at the same steady pace, just as they did every day that she was in residence.
    Great-Aunt Withypoll insisted on taking in an hour of fresh air each day, weather permitting, to invigorate her health, and it was obviously quite effective. For though her bones were becoming frail, her constitution was surely as strong as that of an ox.
    He helped her to her seat on the marble bench next to her favorite pink rose bush and sat down beside her. “Now, Auntie, tell me what I must do to win back my place in your heart.”
    “Foolish boy,” she replied. “I believe you are probably there to stay, after all. But you will certainly strengthen your position by fulfilling my task. All you need do is act as an escort to a young lady that I have taken under my wing—”
    “Oh, Auntie,” he said, sighing. “I am still not recovered from my last assignment as escort to one of your protégée’s. Do you not remember Miss Honoria Walters and her penchant for eating onions? I squired her most dutifully without complaint about her breath, or her high-pitched giggle, or her propensity for tears, or the attentions of her tiny dog. Though I must say, Miss Walters was an improvement on the others you’ve forced me to escort about of late.”
    “You are too critical, Alfred,” Great-Aunt Withypoll admonished. “And I am not getting any younger. I want to see you settled with a wife, and babies for me to spoil. And what does it matter who you marry, as long as she is young and healthy and able to provide you with children?”
    “Well, it matters to the man doing the marrying.”
    “Ah, but you cannot refuse me this request, Alfred,” she said. “Not ten minutes ago you promised that you would do anything I asked. Appearing in public will show your utter disregard for that offensive article in the Times . And though it is unfortunately true, you must take pains to act as if it were not true. Escorting a proper young lady to an entertainment of the ton will show you to be the picture of propriety. It is the only course of action, I’m afraid.”
    Alfred resigned himself to defeat. If his Auntie asked for the moon, he could not deny her.
    “Alright, I’ll do it,” he said, finally. “I only hope that I survive this one.”
    “Oh, stop whining, m’boy!” she replied. “This one’s a gem. You’ll see. Miss Prudence Atwater is a very unique young woman.”
    “ Unique ? Is that your way of saying she looks like Medusa and has a temper to match?”
    Great-Aunt Withypoll whacked his arm and he yelled, feigning injury.
    “Behave,” she warned, “or I’ll give you something to yell about, m’boy. Now, you will escort Miss Atwater to Lady Townsend’s ball in a week’s time. I, of course, will be in attendance. I do so like to see the young people enjoying themselves.”
    Alfred looked at her quizzically. “Just who is this Miss Atwater, Auntie? Not another vicar’s daughter, I hope?”
    “Her father was a scholar, I believe,” Lady Weston answered, thoughtfully. “Well, he must have been, for I met her at the library last month when you were away to Devonshire. She was carrying a stack of books almost as tall as herself. And then she dropped them all. Terribly unfortunate. Made a very loud noise. I of course commanded Barkley, who had escorted me there, to assist her in picking them up. She was wonderfully grateful and I was taken with her charming manner. Very bright girl. Pretty, too. She runs her late father’s school—the Atwater Finishing School for Young Ladies, and I am its newest patroness.”
    “Patroness?” he asked, suddenly worried. “Auntie, is this wise? You should have consulted with me first.”
    “Oh, for goodness sake!” Lady Weston retorted. “I may be old, but I